Monday, August 23, 2010

Look at this picture. What do you see? I see a rocket, a water launch pad and a submarine. Obviously, the submarine is towing a rocket and launch pad out to sea for liftoff. Who would be undertaking this endeavor? North Korea? Iran? Some other sovereign nation? Maybe a company? A large defense contractor somewhere in the world?

The answer is none of the above...all of what you see has been 100% built by hobbyests. While you and I tinker with our cars in the garage, or add on to our houses, these guys were building a freaking space rocket.

Oh, and that submarine? They built that too...that was last year's project...and its been to the bottom of the sea off the coast of Sweden quite a few times...they named it "The Nautilus" ofcourse...

It really is impossible not to be impressed by what engineers, on their own, with no management, company or government backing can do. A typical defense contractor would probably charge billions to make all this...they built this test rocket with $70k.

In 6 days they will be launching a test dummy into suborbital space, hopefully a human in 3 years...the same feat Burt Rutan pulled off a couple of years ago...Keep in mind, Rutan's Scaled Composites is a company, which has received significant funding from the US gov that enabled it to exist in the first place.

These guys work in a shed. On their own time. Why? Because they freaking can!

A lesson all too lost in today's companies where powerpoint engineering is the rule, and actually doing, or making something, anything is deemed too big a risk.

These guys are an inspiration to engineers everywhere. Will the rocket blow up? Scrub launch? Ditch in the ocean? Be 100% successful? We'll find out in about 6 days...stay tuned...